Iowa Teen Starts Trend of Complimenting Classmates on Twitter

Young people are often given a bad rap these days, but anyone who is uncertain of the power and heart of America’s teenagers should meet Jeremiah Anthony. After coming across a story about school bullies torturing their victims via social media, Iowa City West High School junior Anthony decided to retaliate by creating a twitter account for which the sole purpose was spreading positivity to his classmates.

Using the twitter account @westhighbros, this Iowa City teenager and his friends have now sent over 3,000 tweets to members of the West High School student body, teachers, faculty and staff. The young men dole out daily compliments to friends who appear to need a pick me up, classmates in whom they see positive, appreciated personality traits, athletes preparing for a big game or celebrating a victory, and faculty who have gone out of their way to support the student body.

“I believe that showing the goodness in people is very integral to our account because so many people on Twitter and Facebook, they get cyber bullied because they’re less than perfect. And no one is perfect, so we try to have as sincere compliments as possible. I think everyone likes a sincere compliment,” says Anthony.